External modulation method for generating accurate linear optical FMCW

Lyu, Y., Yang, T., Lu, Z., Guo, C., Ge, C., Wang, Z., Jia, D. and Yin, H. (2017) External modulation method for generating accurate linear optical FMCW. IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 29(18), pp. 1560-1563. (doi: 10.1109/LPT.2017.2736561)

Abstract

Frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) lasers are key components in modern optical imaging. However, current intracavity modulation lasers do not exhibit low-frequency jitter rate and high linearity due to the inherent relaxation oscillations. Although this may be compensated in a direct modulation laser diode using an optoelectronic feedback loop, the available sweep speed is moderately small. In this letter, a special external modulation method is developed to improve the performance of FMCW. Since only the first sideband optical field is used during the entire generation process, phase noise is kept to a minimum and is also independent of the sweep speed. We demonstrate that the linearity and jitter rates do not deteriorate appreciably when the sweep speed is changed over three orders of magnitude, even up to the highest sweep speed of 2.5 GHz/ μs .

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Yin, Professor Huabing
• Authors: Lyu, Y., Yang, T., Lu, Z., Guo, C., Ge, C., Wang, Z., Jia, D., and Yin, H.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: IEEE Photonics Technology Letters
• Publisher: IEEE
• ISSN: 1041-1135
• ISSN (Online): 1941-0174
• Published Online: 07 August 2017
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 IEEE
• First Published: First published in IEEE Photonics Technology Letters 29(18): 1560-1563
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy